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| Upper Right Corner: Vengeful Dove! Puffin in lower left. |
Recently I noticed two wooden birds above the windows of Bimbi's, the fish and chips restaurant in the market square.
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Upper Left Corner: It's a puffin!
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And then I saw this little guy above the entrance of the posh tea shoppe.
So, this made me wonder if there were others located around the square. Yes, there are.
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I really can't tell what it is. Maybe a bird on its back?
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| A parrot and something else. |
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| A Barclay's lemur. He likes to move it, move it. |
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| The other Barclay's lemur. |
Finding these, just discovering that they exist, made me disproportionately happy that day. And I also noticed that there were many empty brackets that are not specifically assigned to hanging baskets (which are evident in the spring). This makes me wonder if there were more of these fun gargoyles in the past, but for some reason, were taken down and never replaced. And I also wondered about the choices... Puffins are found on/around Lindisfarne so that makes sense and doves are ubiquitous representatives... but a parrot? A chameleon? Lemurs? What's their significance? Why were these animals chosen to observe the bustle of the marketplace?
I did go into the tea shoppe to ask about the chameleon. The manager said she'd never noticed he was there until she began to work in the shop and that she'd shopped in Durham for all her life. I've even mentioned the critters to a couple of people in the shop and was met with a few blank stares and raised eyebrows. So I'm going to go into the tourist center tomorrow and see if they have any info.
What else have I been missing? It has been @ 6.5 months here and I've just recently noticed these objets d'folk art? At least I have some company; there are others who've lived here their entire lives and don't know these wooden animals are watching them as they walk by.
Mollie.this is one of your best. Do you know that the gargoyles are used as part of the roof top drainage system? We hae gargoyles on top of the capital building.
ReplyDeleteIn my museum readings this past week, I read where the Cherokees had a plot to kill Abraham Lincoln? The paper was written in Cherokee on a school tablet. It was inerpreted by a court interpreter. Very interesting. I am reading files then summarizing them, then putting in computer. Or have I already told you that?
Anyway I lovd this blog.
Did Natalie get her magz?
Gmom Susan
Hi Mollie. Great post! Isn't it amazing how much you just absorb into your 'view' of a place without ever noticing the details? I have lived in a few different places, and have gone on some of the city bus tours when family or friends come into town. It's so interesting to learn about the history/architecture of a place that you have just taken for granted. I look forward to reading about what you discover.
ReplyDeleteThis is so neat- I am not observant at all but this post reminds me I need to be, I am missing out on so much!
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